RANDOM PERSON WITH NO NAME! RANDOM PERSON WITH NO NAME! RANDOM PERSON WITH NO NAME! Say it with me! In a Scottish accent now! RANDOM PERSON- ah, forget it. You get the idea. But I still love this story. It took a while for this idea to form a chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Mood: Serene. I just feel calm- which is an odd feeling because it's new. . .
Song that's in my head:BACCHANALE! The song that represents a party with alcohol- it gets more and more frenzied as it goes on! Yeah, a sixth grader told me that. A bit disturbing, yeah?
Diss:. Yeah.
Naturally, it wasn't enough to dump pudding all over your older half brother.
Erica had to arm the Stoll Brothers, Percy, and Leo with balloons.
Filled with water, pudding, and PICKLES!
Chiron basically had the Aphrodite cabin get cleaned up and go around to each cabin and clean everyone else up, since no one had clean clothes, seeing how it's laundry day. Erica thought through her plan that much.
I managed to escape, seeing how I went back to change clothes early and just barely found a suitable outfit. With a little help from the Iris kids, I managed to make a green (and I mean, REALLY bright green) swimsuit look dark blue, and a red and white basketball jersey turn a matching dark blue and white.
Taking my extra hour of free time during wrestling- a class taught by Clarisse was a bad idea- I just wandered around the camp with my sketchbook. I took a seat by Thalia's pine, this huge forest green tree with brownish gray bark and sticky white sap leaking out of it. The colors were so vibrant around camp- it was an artist's paradise. Looking around our little secret world in the valley, I search for someone to sketch. I can see Percy and Annabeth- they usually make good subjects, except for when they're making out- which of course they're doing now. I can also see into the forges- Leo would make a good subject, with his ripped arms and curly hair and chiseled face. Half the girls in camp liked him, but somehow he was still single and living under the delusion that no one would ever like him. If he'd just stop moving! Then I could get a good sketch. I look around some more. I can't get a clear view of anyone else. Sighing, I lean against the cool bark, grumbling to myself.
"Hey, Solace."
Before me is an angel.
I didn't know Nyssa could look like that. Her bronze skin glowed, long black curls tumbling down her back, holding herself tall. The Aphrodite cabin somehow got her into a short, flowing white dress that fell a good eight inches above her knee, showing off her ridiculously toned legs. Now don't get me wrong- Nyssa was far from perfect. But that dress- especially the off the shoulder sleeves and deep neckline- made her look pretty darn close to it.
"Hey Nyssa." I close my eyes to focus on the conversation. Not superficial, not superficial, not superficial. . .
"What are you doing?"
Not superficial. "Sketching. But there's no good subjects." Not superficial, not superficial, not superficial. . .
"Why not?"
Focus, Will, focus. "The only people in range that I can get a good detail profile of is Leo, and he moves too much, and Percy and Annabeth, and I am NOT going to draw them making out. That's just wrong."
"Then draw the valley."
You can do this, just focus. "I wanted to work on my portraits. My landscapes are fine, but I really need to work on getting my portraits to actually look like the subjects."
"Why don't you draw me, then?"
My eyes snap open. "Uh. . ." Nyssa's now sitting a few feet away, feet tucked underneath her, hair pulled over one shoulder. Even though the dress is loose fitting, only snug against her body where the sleeves are to hold it up, it still outlines her ridiculous curves. My one sister, Nicole, read a James Patterson book that used the term "Boob Salad." That fits the low cut dress perfectly.
"Well?" Nyssa asks me.
"Why not." I manage to say without making a fool of myself. I position myself against Thalia's pine, and lightly start to sketch. I decide to do a full body portrait, since I need the most work on them, and it gave me a chance to let my eyes roam a bit. Perv, I know.
I finally finished. "Thanks, Nyssa. I needed that."
Nyssa grabbed my hand before I could get up to go. "You're just going to draw me and then leave without letting me see? Come on, Solace. You aren't that chicken."
I sigh, and hand her the sketchbook, open to her page. Of course, just as I hand it to her, the wind blows it shut. Closing my eyes in defeat, I let her take it.
"You don't mind if I look at the other pictures, do you?"
"Might as well let someone see it. Or else I'll never succeed as an artist, because I can't get the guts up to let someone look at it!"
"You're letting me look at it now."
"You don't count."
"Why don't I?"
"I trust you not to make fun of me, or kill me for what I've drawn. Well, maybe not that last one, but I still trust you."
"Why would I kill you for what you've drawn?"
"I draw what I see. I've seen some weird stuff."
"I'm not gonna ask."
"Makes sense not to. You're gonna see it anyway.
"Okay then." Nyssa flips open the cover of the sketchbook. "Di Immortales! Solace, is that-"
"Leo, Piper, and Jason right after the Giant War. I know, Leo looks like a penguin."
"Are you kidding me? This is amazing!"
"Well, I guess I have to take back what I said about you not making fun of me."
"I'm being completely honest with you, Solace. Don't doubt yourself. These are amazing."
Silence fell as Nyssa continued flipping through my sketchbook. I spoke up. "I hope you know that this is huge for me. I've never let anyone look at my sketches before. I mean, that thing is like my man diary or something, you know? That is, if I were to keep-"
"Solace what is this?"
Nyssa turned the book around so I could see what she was talking about. I could feel my face turn red. "Um, that was a drawing I did last night. After our fight, you know? Most of the time when you get pissed at me, I know what I've done and just wait for you to calm down so I can apologize and not die. Course most of the time I forget anyway. . . But last night was different. I had no clue what I'd done, or what I hadn't done. As far as I knew, I hadn't done anything to make you mad. Like I said, that thing is my man diary. Drawing for me is like how Percy swims, you build, Annabeth solves math equations. It's a release, a way to make sense of your own brain. I drew that trying to figure out what I did so I can make it right. You have to have an inspiration before there's a masterpiece."
Nyssa said nothing. I could practically feel her staring at the picture. I was poking at the grass at my feet, when I got up the courage to scoot over next to Nyssa.
"This is the picture I drew." Taking a deep breath, I flipped the page over. Nyssa gasped next to me.
"Will!"
"First time you called me that our entire conversation."
"Is this exaggerated?"
I look at the picture. "No, why?"
"There is no way that's me."
"It is." The picture was in color, realistically portraying Nyssa. Bronze skin, muscular, but not body builder type- those guys are creepy- the white dress flowing in the wind. The wind playing with Nyssa's hair, I also included a background, making the sun shine around her like a halo.
"Solace, are you making fun of me?"
"Why would I?"
"Oh, I don't know, because it's you?"
"Nice to know you trust me."
"Solace, there is no way that picture is realistic. I mean, it is, but- that girl is way too pretty to be me."
"Don't doubt yourself."
"With a dad like mine, and seeing how my brothers turned out, I should be allowed to have reasonable doubt."
"What if that reasonable doubt is false?"
"Whatever Solace. If you have that much confidence in my looks, explain why I've never had a boyfriend. Not even a date to the fireworks!"
"They were chicken to ask you out. You are a respected and impressive member of this camp." That and I personally hunted down every boy I heard talking about you and beat the living crap out of them. It works mighty well when they're on the opposing team on Capture the flag, and the Ares cabin is your ally. Or when they're your ally, and the Ares cabin is on the opposing team. Or if your only option is to shoot them in the head and they're on your team, fall out of a tree and blame a dryad for 'messing up your shot.'
"Very funny, Solace."
"I'm being serious! It's nothing against you, but they were probably scared that you or one of your brothers would beat them up!"
Silence. "I guess that's true."
"It has nothing to do with your looks. Though if you ask me, they might be less afraid to talk to you if you let the Aphrodite cabin put you in skanky white dresses more often."
"Solace!"
"Oh, come on Nyss, you can't wear that dress and not expect the guys to enjoy looking at you. Especially with those curves." I leaned against Thalia's pine, put my arms behind my head, and allowed myself to smile as I closed my eyes. I didn't know what I was doing. Getting under Nyssa's skin and making her mad are what I do best, so I figured why not use that to my advantage. Okay, so I did know what I was doing.
"Take that back or this sketchbook will be scanned into a computer, and everyone will see them tonight at dinner." Nyssa growled, holding it above her head.
"Now why would I take back a compliment? That's not logical." So I was panicking inside. That sketchbook held my secrets. But if I let Nyssa know that she had gotten to me, I 'd never live it down.
"What's not logical is you drawing me like that! I don't do that drawing justice!"
"NO." I growl, standing up and grabbing Nyssa. "How many times do I have to tell you?" Our faces were inches apart. "You shouldn't doubt yourself Nyssa."
I was being rough with her, and I felt guilty. I could see fear in her eyes because of me. I rarely acted this way. And never before around Nyssa.
Lightening my grip on her waist and forearm, I leaned down so my lips were next to her ear. "This picture doesn't do you justice."
We were both shaking at the intensity of our conversation. Nyssa's hands shook uncontrollably as she handed me back my sketchbook. I bet mine were the same.
Once the book was safely in my backpack, at the foot of the tree, I returned to Nyssa. She was still shaking, wrapping her arms around her in the cold early spring breeze. Clouds had passed in front of the sun, dropping the temperature several degrees.
Brushing the hair out of her face, I said again, "Don't doubt yourself." My voice hardly above a whisper. I could barely hear myself.
She turned her head up so I could feel her shivering breaths on my face. "You mean it?" Her chocolate eyes were filled with something that didn't go with Nyssa's normal tough girl image. But then again, none of this did.
"Why would I lie to you?" My head dipped ever closer. Right as I said that, the clouds came out from behind the sun, casting the surreal glow over everything again. I figured I must've been accidentally using my powers, again.
Nyssa smiled. "Now if only you did that for the sketch. It would've made it perfect." I whisper, causing her to giggle.
I just realized that I had never seen her smile before. Poor Nyssa lost so much, she never even smiled with relief.
"Thank you." She said.
"I wasn't joking, though. That dress is going to catch a lot of eyes."
"Then maybe I should change."
"I'd rather you not."
Nyssa laughed. This was the happiest I had ever seen her. The best part: it was because of me. Most of the time, Nyssa just scowled at me, flipped me birds, and went back to building. Seeing her smile and laugh like this was so. . . different. Gazing at her laughter lit eyes, I felt something ignite inside me. I had no clue what.
"About what you said earlier, about me, and the picture, and 'doing justice?'" Nyssa's smiled faded as she asked this.
"That picture could never do you justice." I whispered, gathering her in my arms. "It never will, after seeing you like this- smiling, laughing, happy."
She looked into my eyes, and slowly leaned in further. I bent my head down, standing almost a foot taller than her, and our lips almost met, before something splashed down on us.
I gasped, pulling away sharply as Nyssa screamed. I wiped the water out of my eyes, and turned to glare at Percy, Erica, Thalia, and Annabeth.
"How did you guys get up here?" I yell.
"Our awesomeness!" Erica yelled, grinning.
"Gee, Will," Percy cackled, "Some of that stuff you said- worthy of a son of Aphrodite!"
"It's a good thing we caught it on tape!" Thalia high fived Erica.
"And Will," Annabeth said, climbing down the tree. She was the only one who was keeping her laughter contained. "Before you come after us, might want to think about Nyssa- white is see-through when it's wet." She busted out laughing, as Percy came up behind her, picked her up, and ran with her screaming at him to put her down the entire time.
Thalia also booked it, and so did Erica, but not before waving a large towel around- big enough to wrap several times around my waist- and hanging it on the top branch of the tree.
The message was clear enough. The towel was meant for Nyssa. No wonder Erica got Annabeth on her side. The kid was fans with Thalia for being a girl, Percy for her pranks, and Annabeth because of how just darn smart she was.
"Will." Nyssa had curled up underneath the tree, trying furiously to cover herself. "You know only Thalia or people with Thalia's permission can climb that tree. If you try, Peleus will attack."
Just then, Chiron came galloping up. "I didn't see who did it, but I saw the water balloon. I figured, seeing what Nyssa was wearing, she would need this." He handed me a gigantic, fluffy white towel.
I turned to Nyssa. "Come here, you. I think I'm too big to come in any closer."
Today was not going to be my day.
